The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was written by 1885, at that time, slavery had been abolished for 20 years, but in many states in the southern, the treatment of black people had not really changed. Because even though the law has changed, people's perceptions of black people have not changed, they still have stereotypes about them, thinking they are stupid and ignorant. In the face of this social situation, by describing Jim's experience, Mark Twain condemned the injustice of slavery and its serious consequences.
No one in the novel treats black people as humans. There are many ordinary people there, among them are devout Christians and good people. They believe that all men are equal before God and are willing to give their love. They do not realize that they're dehumanizing people cause they convinced that slaves are only property, not people, so they do not need to treat them equally. Miss Watson has never abused Jim, but she has never treated him as an equal person. She deprived him of labor and took it for granted. Although she promised not to sell Jim, Jim heard she was talking to a slave trader about selling him to New Orleans for $ 800. Miss Watson knew that Jim's wife and children were elsewhere, and Jim could hardly see his wife and children, but she wouldn't feel sad about it. She sympathized with Huck and was willing to tolerate him with love and take him home as a son to educate him. But she thinks that Jim is only a slave, not a person. His happiness and even his life are not what they should consider.
During Huck's adventures with Jim, he changes his thought about Jim. Although he was tangled and knew Jim was a slave. But he ended up treating Jim like a friend, not a property. In fact, the change in Huck's thought of Jim has not changed Huck’s attitude toward other black people. He still treats other blacks as property rather than humans. During Chapter 27, Huck was glad he pushed his stolen money things onto the black people, and he didn't feel guilty at all. He just felt that the slave was not injured as a result, so he thought it was a perfect plan. He did not consider the morals of the black people as human beings, nor did they consider the consequences if they get caught, he just made this decision subconsciously. And in Chapter 32, when Aunt Sally talking with Huck, they said:
Huck: “It warn’t the grounding—that didn’t keep us back but a little. We blowed out a cylinder-head.”
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Aunt Sally: “Good gracious! anybody hurt?”
Huck: “No’m. Killed a nigger.” ( The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Pg 223)
Huck's reply proved that he did not treat black people as human beings, 'No one was hurt, only a black person died.' It is enough to prove that Huck treats black people still as property. When Huck wanted to pay tribute to Jim's noble sentiment, he always used white people as a reference. For example, he thinks that Jim's heart is the same as 'white'. When he defied the king and duke's insidious behavior, he thought if he did these bad things, he will be black. In his opinion, white people are noble and black people are inferior.
In Mark Twain's description, Jim is a kind and compassionate person. He knows how to thank Huck for helping him. He took good care of Huck during the adventure. They met the King and the Duke during the adventure, who ordered him and Huck to take vigil. Every time is Huck’s turn for the vigil, Jim always don’t wake up Huck and instead of him. In helping Jim escape, Tom was shot in the leg. Tom feels excited about this and insists on continuing to escape. Jim refused to take another half-step forward and had to find a doctor to take out the bullet for Tom. When the doctor was unable to remove the bullet alone without the help of someone, Jim hidden in the woods ran out again, helped the doctor, and took great care of Tom. What Mark Twain wants to express is that blacks are not only inferior to whites in personality, they even surpass whites in many ways. Black people are not what people think during that time. If equally educated, blacks can be as good as whites. Shows the necessity and urgency of abolishing slavery.
Mark Twain described in the adventures of Huckleberry Finn how badly people thought of black people at the time. Shown the disadvantages of slavery and racial discrimination at that time.
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